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Thursday, 1 February 2018

Plans for February 2018

Why, hello there, reading chums! How was January in your neck of the woods? I gave myself a little blog break for January, because I had some things I needed to get sorted. We are planning to have our home extended (eeeek!) so I was sorting out the financing of all that, along with some other business things. I found myself channeling Miss Bingley...

"How many letters you must have occasion to write in the course of the year! Letters of business, too! How odious I should think them!"

"It is fortunate, then, that they fall to my lot instead of to yours.

If only Mr Darcy had been there to sort things for me! Ah well.

I didn't have much energy for reading, so what reading I managed was mostly audio, on my commutes and while cleaning. I listened to a book about forming habits (seasonal, New Year's resolution reading!) and I am currently listening to some performances of Agatha Christie Poirot stories, which I'm enjoying very much. I've also been reading an illustrated book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, with my children. Since I've been reading it aloud it's taken quite a few nights but we're nearing the end. We also watched the film of the book, and it underlined for me how great it is if you can read the book as well as watch a film, the details, characters and humour are all so much richer and more detailed in a book. Although this eats into my reading time it's definitely time well-spent. I have the next Harry Potter book, so my next read with them will either be that, or perhaps The Railway Children by E Nesbit. This was a childhood favourite of mine so I am hoping to win them over to it, and I've bought an illustrated version of that too.

So, let me tell you about my plans for February. We will begin with visitors...

Firstly, I am taking part in the blog tour for Amy George's book The Sweetest Ruin, which is a modern P&P story set in Las Vegas. Amy will be sharing an excerpt with us, which I hope you'll enjoy.

I'll also be taking part in the blog tour for Amy D'Orazio's new book, A Short Period of Exquisite Felicity, which comes out on Valentine's day. The blog tour is a little later. I have read lots of Amy's unpublished work, but I'm not sure whether this is something I'll recognise or if it'll be entirely new to me. I really enjoy her writing, and jumped at the chance to review it, but I was taking a bit of risk because the angst levels in her stories range from low angst to 'oh-my-goodness-I-might-keel-over' angst and I don't know where this one comes in on the scale! I have read the blurb and it sounds very enticing... and that's all I'm saying for now, but I will tell you all about it later in the month. The cover reveal is happening over at Just Jane 1813 next week.

As for my reading plans, I have some review books to catch up on from last year, so I'm hoping to get to some of those, and also I'd like to get in some seasonal Valentine's Day reading. What do you have planned for February? Did you read any corkers in January? Let me know in the comments :)

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9 comments:

I am so happy that you are part of my reading plans too, Amy! I have enjoyed so many of your unpublished works that I am so glad that you are now publishing. I don't know whether I've read this one and I am not even going to bother asking you how this rates on angst, because I know that you have a far more robust angst barometer than me! You have the distinction of being the only author whose work I loved that I had to abandon reading because I feared a heart attack, LOL! I was reading it in installments and I think that made it worse, because when you're reading a book if it's THAT bad you can be naughty and skip ahead but there is no skipping in an online read. I am really looking forward to reading your book :)

Thank you so much Meredith. We are currently in the calm before the storm in relation to work on the house. What we're having done is a new room across the whole back of the house which will comprise a kitchen and dining room. The current tiny kitchen will then become a laundry room. It's really exciting, but I know it will be stressful too. As you may know, the houses in the UK are relatively small; it will make a massive difference to the size of our kitchen, so I can't wait! I hope you have a lot of good reads lined up in Feb too!

Big plans! Wishing you and your family good fortune with the expansion efforts. I love that you're reading with your kids like that. Believe me, as a child who had reading nights with mom, they will remember and it will form a habit and a taste for books. Neat about the Poirot audios. Those would be fun.

Haha! Fun that you are having two Amys for a visit this month. Hope the angst is just right for you and you get to some of your older reviews.

Thank you so much for your comment, Sophia. I hope that the reading with my kids will one day mean as much to them as it does to me. My elder child is 11 this weekend and I am so aware of how his childhood is slipping through my hands like sand. I am so glad to be able to capture a tiny part of it.

The Poirot reads ARE fun, you are quite right :) I got 12 months of Audible as a birthday present and I would highly recommend asking for it as a present because then it's free for you and you can just enjoy it. I'm not sure I would have paid for it, but if it's pre-paid I'll enjoy it :)

Isn't it fun that both my confirmed visitors were Amy? It tickled me too.

Hope you've got all your paperwork sorted out and that no surprises befall you on your housing project! Imagine the fun you'll have putting your own personal touch to your extension!!! Looking forward to reading each story mentioned. Love the thought of you reading with your kids,passing on your love of the written word and spending quality time with them. They'll not forget this precious time with their mom.

Thanks Mary. The pitfalls of this have put us off for a long time, but we will benefit so much from the extra space. The charges that are levied on you are such a pain though.

It's such a privilege to read with my children. I am never sure whether they are engaged with the story or just trying to stay up later, but at least last time we learned the colour of periwinkle blue and what mullioned windows are :)

About Me

I've loved reading for as long as I can remember. I usually read romance, both historical and contemporary but I'm not usually a big fan of chick-lit. My favourite author is Jane Austen, and I really enjoy reading stories inspired by her work. I also love many of the works of L M Montgomery, Georgette Heyer and Mrs Gaskell, amongst others.